Radar system design and operation depends on many factors. Some of these factors include the type of radar system (e.g., Synthetic Aperture Radar or Moving Target Indicator), the radar mission (e.g., mapping, air traffic control), the parameter to be optimized (e.g., rate of area coverage, false alarm rates), system Pulse Repetition Frequency (PRF) and other operating parameters, etc. Many such factors are typically considered during the design phase to develop a radar system that satisfies the mission criteria. Such factors may also be considered in operating existing systems to obtain desired data.
Conventional numerical radar performance analyses generally rely on the analyst's knowledge of the specific radar system being analyzed. In this regard, the analyst may define the problem using "rules of thumb" and then apply simple iterative techniques to determine the optimal performance. Corresponding optimization software is generally system specific and/or context specific and therefore has very limited applicability. Accordingly, analysts have generally required separate optimization applications for analyzing radar systems of different types or for implementing different types of optimization functions.